


Letters from Blackthorn

by cygnari



Series: Stories of Lance and Steven Stone [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: 5+1 Things, Letters, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-19 02:42:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29619381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cygnari/pseuds/cygnari
Summary: Five times Lance wrote a letter, and one time he didn’t
Relationships: Tsuwabuki Daigo | Steven Stone/Wataru | Lance
Series: Stories of Lance and Steven Stone [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2187342
Comments: 1
Kudos: 10





	Letters from Blackthorn

2 Devon Way  
Rustboro City  
Hoenn

Hi Steven

Is this how letters begin? Mother said I should be formal but we’re friends right? Did you identify the rocks I gave you? I’ve never heard of anyone liking steel types or coming to Blackthorn City to look at rocks, but I guess we have a lot of mountains around here. What is Hoenn like? It must be really cool right? I’ve never seen the ocean before because Master says that I need to train, but it would be really cool if I could visit Hoenn and see you! 

What’s your favorite pokemon? You like steel types right? The other day I saw a Dratini in the Dragon’s Den but it swam away before I could get a good look at it. Dragon type pokemon are so cool! They’re so strong! I want to become a dragon master when I grow up. Then I can have all the strongest dragon type pokemon! 

Anyways my cousin is bugging me to play with her now. Do you remember her? She’s still quite short and annoying. I just want her to leave me alone. You’re so much cooler. 

Lance (Is this how I end a letter?)

PS: What do you think a dual steel/dragon type pokemon would look like? It would be really strong, wouldn’t it? One day, let’s find one! 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2 Devon Way  
Rustboro City  
Hoenn

Hello Steven

Beldum sounds like such a weird pokemon. You say that it has a single red eye and levitates? How creepy. I also got my first pokemon recently! A Dratini! It really likes me and I think we have a good connection. We’ve been practicing some battle moves and it’s been getting them all. It already knows twister and thunder wave, and I think I’ll be able to start my pokemon journey soon, once Master approves. I’m still planning my route, but the first gym is in Violet City, which means that I can just head straight south through Route 45. How are routes numbered in Hoenn? Our routes are numbered 29 through 48 because routes 1 through 28 are in Kanto which is right next door. I’m a bit worried though, because Master is the 8th gym leader and people leaving Blackthorn City through Route 45 will all be pretty high level. I guess this just means that I need to be resourceful. I know that my dragons can get me through anything! Once I get down Route 45 I just need to pass through the Dark Cave, exit to Route 46, and then head west on Route 29, pass through Cherrygrove City, go north on Route 30, head west on Route 31, and I can finally get to Violet City. Sorry if I’m boring you with boring details, but I’m so excited to start! Are you setting out soon as well? 

Oh also thanks for the PokeNav! Nobody around me really knows how to switch the map from Hoenn to Johto, but I guess I’ll just memorize the geography of Hoenn so that I don’t get lost when I go and visit you. It would be really cool if we could battle, we could finally decide whether dragon or steel is the better type (but it’s dragon and you know it). 

Your dad sounds really nice. He must be really busy as the president of the Devon Corporation, but he still makes a lot of time for you, like sharing his love of rocks with you. Did he give you your Beldum? Rock and steel are not so different. I have no clue where my father is. My mom says that he left a few years ago and never returned, but nobody will tell me why he left or if he will ever return. That’s why Master, my grandfather, and my mom raised me. I guess every family is weird in its own way. 

Anyways, I have to go now, Master is calling me. 

Lance

PS: How’s the rock collection? Have you collected anything rare? I want to hear about your rocks! 

PPS: Good luck with your pokemon journey! 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pokemon Center  
Slateport City  
Hoenn

Hello Steven

I hope this letter finds you in time; it seems like our journeys are fairly in sync. More importantly, your Beldum evolved into a METANG? That’s so cool. How did you get to Slateport? Route 109? Or 110? It’s so weird how the route numbers skip from 48 to 101. Maybe the other routes are in a different region? If you’ve gotten to Slateport, you should have two gym badges now right? How were the battles? Were they hard? I bet that your Beldum crushed them! Or had it evolved into Metang already? Anyways, those battles must have been wicked. I wonder if there’s a good way of recording battles. Maybe something to bring up to your dad? 

Anyways, my journey’s been going amazing. Johto is so cool! I had never left Blackthorn City before because Master insisted that I spend all my time training. Right now I’m writing this from Azalea Town, which is right after Violet City. The Slowpoke Well here is really weird, and there’s also someone here who makes custom pokeballs out of apricorns. I’ve included a few in this message, maybe you can find a way to mass produce these. They seem like they would be useful. I’ve gotten two badges already, and depending on how fast this reaches you, I might have gotten my third as well in Goldenrod City. The first gym leader was Falkner, who specializes in flying types. Dratini was really useful here because he had thunder wave, so that drastically cut the mobility of the flying types that Falkner had. A few dragon tails and twisters and that won me the battle. The second gym leader was Bugsy, and unsurprisingly, he specializes in bug types. He wasn’t very threatening, two of his pokemon were a Metapod and a Kakuna and they barely did anything, but his Scyther was a bit scary. Unfortunately, once Dratini had used agility a few times, Scyther wasn’t fast enough to catch us! I have a feeling that Dratini might be evolving soon, but dragon types do grow somewhat slowly, so who knows. I’m sure these gyms would have been easy for you, but I really would like to show you the Slowpoke Well someday. I don’t think you’ll ever find so many Slowpoke in one place. I also hear that there’s a Slowpoke Temple, but that just sounds weird. How much could one do with a giant gold Slowpoke statue anyways? 

I’m really excited for Goldenrod city! I’ve never been to such a large city before. It has a radio tower, a department store, a casino, a global terminal, a bullet train, and I can see the ocean again! The national park is also really close by. I wonder if Goldenrod has any ships that I can take to Hoenn. There’s supposed to be a ferry to Alto Mare which is really cool, and I heard that Alto Mare is roughly halfway between Johto and Hoenn, but it doesn’t show up on either region’s map so I don’t actually know how far it is. 

Also, I promise I haven’t forgotten about finding some rare rocks for you, but all the routes so far have been so boring. It’s all dirt and sand and no rocks. I guess Route 45 had some rocks, but you already got some rocks from Blackthorn, so I’m sure they wouldn’t have been new to you. 

Lance

PS: Do you think capes are cool? I saw some people with capes walking around and they looked really cool. I’m thinking about getting some for myself. Is wearing capes socially acceptable? I was thinking what colors I could look good in. My outfits are mostly blue, so I’m thinking maybe a blue exterior and red interior perhaps? I think it could look cool if the red is the same color as my hair. Speaking of which, no one else in my family has red hair like I do. Clair’s hair is blue, mother has blue hair as well, and Master is bald. Perhaps father had red hair? Also, why is my hair so spiky? It seems to defy gravity. It’s not like I don’t like it, it’s just weird and unintuitive that hair could behave in this manner. Do you like it? 

PPS: I forgot to mention Sprout Tower while I was talking about Violet City. It’s this tall tower where there are a bunch of old monks who only train Bellsprout and a few Hoothoot and there’s a giant pole in the middle that they say came from a 100 foot tall Bellsprout. What a weird place. I’ll make sure to show you it when you come visit! 

PPPS: How am I forgetting this many things? Anyways, I heard on TV about a rise in crime in Hoenn. Stay safe! I know that you have pokemon with you, but you should still stay vigilant. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pokemon Center  
Mauville City  
Hoenn

Hi Steven

I’ve sent this to Mauville City because it seems to be on the path between Petalburg City and Fortree City, which I recall to be the locations of the 5th and 6th gyms. How is your journey going? I bet you’ll be able to talk down Winona in a flash of a flash cannon. Is Metang close to evolving? It sounded really strong in that battle with Wattson, but hopefully it didn’t struggle too much against Flannery and her fire types? Metagross also sounds really strong. Also, why do they keep doubling their number of arms? If Metagross could evolve would it have 8 arms? I guess it would be a bug type then? I don’t know, I stick with my dragon types and reasonable numbers of limbs. They’re virtually indestructible, why would you need any other pokemon? 

Also, thanks for your comments on that last batch of cape pictures. I think I’ve narrowed the color scheme down, and I’ve purchased a reasonable amount of identical capes from the Goldenrod Department Store. I hear that Celadon City in Kanto has an even larger department store, but I still have not made it there, so I can’t say if their selection is good though. 

I’m glad that you liked the rock samples I sent you. The charcoal has quite an interesting story doesn’t it? Johto has so many legends about its places, and the story of the Brass Tower and the Bell Tower is so sad. I hope that one day, we will be able to see Ho-Oh together. The radio director in Goldenrod City gave me a Rainbow Wing, so maybe this will be important in the future. The radio director also gave me a Silver Wing. I wonder if this ties into another legend of Johto that I still haven’t heard about. What legends does Hoenn have? 

Speaking of Hoenn, I’ve been hearing a lot about a rise in crime. I heard something about a mysterious trainer thwarting some evil plan to stop a volcano from erupting? And another story about a mysterious trainer thwarting another evil plan to cause a volcano to blow up? You aren’t this mysterious trainer, right? Please tell me you aren’t, and please try to stay out of trouble? 

Anyways, my journey is going great! I just took down Chuck, the gym leader in Cianwood City (more about the city later). Dragonair’s really fast and Chuck only has two pokemon, a Primeape and a Poliwrath. There really was no contest to be had. Even Morty was harder to beat than Chuck was. My next badge is going to be in Olivine City, versus Myron. She specializes in steel type pokemon, but I bet you’re a better steel type trainer than she is. Also, Magnemite and Steelix are much less threatening than they seem. Metang seems much stronger. 

Back to Cianwood City, it’s on a separate landmass from the rest of Kanto so it’s quite isolated. It’s surrounded by a number of mountains and I think you would really like it! There are some rocks I’ve sent from the Cliff Edge Gate, Route 47, and Route 48, which all have really interesting topography. Also, the Safari Zone is over here, and I hear that there are some rare steel types to be caught. I managed to find a Gible in the Rocky Beach area, and I’ve been training it up before I face Myron. After all, ground is completely immune to electric type moves and ground is also super effective against steel, so yeah, Gible and its evolutions will be great. I’ve also heard that one can catch Shelgon in the Wetland area, but I spent all of my money on the entrance fee, and still did not find one. I guess I’ll need to go battle some trainers and come back. I really would like a Shelgon to evolve into a Salamance, it’s so cool. 

Oh, another thing I learned about in Cianwood City was the legend of Lugia, another legendary bird. Route 41, part of the path between Olivine and Cianwood, is dominated by 4 islands, known as the Whirl Islands. The entrances to the islands are blocked by whirlpools, and local legends say that if one has the Silver Wing, one can find Lugia at the bottom of one of the caves. Do you know what this means?? It means that I’ll be waiting for you so that we can find Lugia together! 

Lance

PS: I’m a little worried about Pryce, the gym leader after Myron, because he specializes in ice types, but I hope I’ll be fine. Lots of dragon type pokemon learn fire type moves like flamethrower to melt ice (and steel). 

PPS: Maybe Alto Mare is on the same land mass as Cianwood City is on. Wouldn’t that make Cianwood really close to Hoenn? Who knows, maybe you’ll suddenly pop up here. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

South Pokemon Center  
Ever Grande City  
Hoenn

Hi Steven

Good luck with Victory Road and the League! I am also just about to enter Victory Road. My pokemon are all trained up, Dragonite, Garchomp, and Salamence are by my side, and I’m all stocked up on items. I’m really excited (but also a bit nervous). Victory Road is not that much trouble, but I’m a bit nervous about the actual league members. Will, the first Elite Four member, is a psychic type trainer so that is not too worrying, and Koga, the next one, is a poison type trainer. Bruno is fighting type, and Karen is dark type, so those are not too concerning. However, the champion, Samuel, has quite the reputation. 

Anyways, isn’t it weird that Kanto and Johto share an Elite 4 and Champion? To actually get to the Indigo Plateau after beating Master for the 8th gym badge and an official acknowledgement as a dragon master, I once again went south through Route 45 and Route 46, went east on Route 29 this time, passed through New Bark Town where Professor Elm has his lab, surfed east on Route 27, navigate the Tohjo Falls, and then head north on Route 26, which finally brings me to the Pokemon League Reception Gate. It really feels like Johto is getting the short end of the stick here. Speaking of the Tohjo Falls, behind the waterfall, I found a hidden room that was completely empty, save for some very unique stones. I’ve sent some along with this letter. It does also remind me of those waterfall training scenes that you see in movies; perhaps we could spend some time training here? But somehow, it feels like this room is not stable in our time. Perhaps there is a legend about it, or perhaps the legend has yet to happen. 

Oh also, Metang evolved into METAGROSS? Congrats! I look forward to our battle. Dragonite versus Metagross, truly a clash of giants. Of course, we all know that dragon is the superior type, but I’m curious to see how you’ve trained Metagross. I assure you that if such a battle was to occur, I would refrain from using Garchomp; that would be cheating. 

It seems that I cannot convince you not to put your life on the line while fighting these evil teams. All I can say is that I hope you stay safe, but I know you will. No one can match your Metagross. But please, won’t you consider coming to Johto? We don’t have any villainous teams of this sort. 

Do you want to hear more about the battle I had with Master? Somehow I had never realized that he was the 8th gym leader, but I guess I should have realized, especially when the Dragon’s Den would violently shake and my mother would drag me outside. Well anyways, I can say with certainty that I am a dragon master. Salamence, Dragonite, and Garchomp were too much for Master to deal with. When one is battling dragon types against each other, speed is very significant because dragon is super effective against dragon, so one cannot rely on any defenses. All one can do is hit hard and hit fast, and, well, Dragonite is the slowest member of my team. Additionally, it seems that Master’s pokemon selection is limited. The Salamence and Garchomp I have are from pokemon that come from the landmass that Cianwood City is on, and it seems that they do not live in the rest of Johto, so Master had never seen them before. Of course Blackthorn City has a substantial population of Dratini and Dragonair, but Master didn’t have any pokemon from outside of this evolutionary line. 

Anyways enough rambling from me. You got this! 

Lance

PS: I’ve heard some rumors about a dual dragon/steel type. It’s called Duraludon and it seems to come from a distant region known as Galos? I’m not entirely sure on the name, I just overheard some trainers talking. Apparently it looks really dumb and isn’t graceful like most dragons are, so it really does seem to be primarily a steel type. That’s ok though, I’m sure there are cooler dragon/steel pokemon out there. 

PPS: It’ll have been a whole year since we set out soon. Time really does fly doesn’t it? 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hey,” Lance heard from behind him. He had just finished an intense battle with Karen, the 4th Elite Four member, who specialized in dark times. In the end, a well placed Hyper Beam had knocked out Karen’s last pokemon, a Houndoom, and Lance was resting and preparing to face the champion, Samuel. 

“Steven?” Lance asked, turning around. 

“Yep, that’s me! It looks like I missed that match, but there’s still one more, right?” Steven beamed. 

“Steven…” Lance said, trailing off, “Why are you here? Don’t you have your own Elite Four to conquer?” 

“I would climb a waterfall to find a rare rock, and I would climb a waterfall to be with you,” Steven said, with a cheesy grin on his face, “My Elite Four can wait, and I wanted to see you become the champion that you deserve to be.” He suddenly found himself wrapped in a tight hug, and relaxed, feeling Lance’s heavy cape drape over him. 

“I missed you,” Lance said, trying very hard to hold back tears. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” 

“It was a surprise! Come on now, I feel a wet patch forming on my shoulder. Show me your dragons as we rest up and prepare.” 

“Yes. Ok. Yes, ummmmm, ok I can do that,” Lance muttered, gradually recovering. “Ok. Ummmm. Ok. In my backpack, I have some full restores. Let’s get those distributed. Dragonite, Garchomp, Salamence, come out!” In a flash of 3 synchronized lights, the three dragons appeared, standing before the pair, slightly scratched up, but in good spirits. 

“Oh, are you Dragonite? Lance has told me so much about you,” Steven said, lightly scratching under Dragonite’s chin, “Oh, and are you Garchomp? What a beautiful pokemon you are, oh and not to forget you, Salamence, what impressive musculature. Now let’s see about fixing you up,” Steven said, as he examined the full restores and began to use them to spray various wounds, “Now this will hurt but you’ll be back in perfect shape in no time. There you go, where should I put these empty ones?” 

“Ummm there’s usually a trash can in the corridor between the rooms,” Lance stammered out, as he recalled the trio of dragons. “Uh, how was the trip here?” he asked Steven, hesitantly and avoiding eye contact. 

“Well, it turns out that Johto and Hoenn are not so far apart after all. Fallarbor Town is separated from the coast by a mountain range, but once you cross it, you can quickly surf to the island that Cianwood is on, and then it’s all marked routes to here. Speaking of which,” Steven rummaged around in his backpack, and pulled out a Clear Bell. “I got this in Slateport City, and the trainer who gave it to me said that he got it from Johto. Shall we go find Lugia and Ho-Oh after you win this battle? Show me those legends of Johto that you’ve talked so much about in your letters to me. Ah, what a moment!” Steven squawked with indignation. 

“For what?” Lance retorted, as he dragged Steven by the arm towards the door, “We have a world to see together.”

**Author's Note:**

> Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh my first upload to AO3. I made some changes to the Pokemon universe, including increasing the age at which one begins a pokemon journey (I guess I didn’t explicitly mention this but having strong romantic subtext with actual pre-teens is yikes), some occurrences of wild pokemon in regions they are not traditionally found in (Lance only having access to the Dragonite line is lame), and I also mix and matched some lore details across various games. Also I guess only two of the letters were sent from Blackthorn rip title but oh well.


End file.
